Why Early Access?

“Sumer is largely done, but ahead of us is the exciting task of adding online multiplayer. Since successfully funding Sumer on Kickstarter, we have had a large number of playtesters asking how they can continue to play Sumer. We want to open the game up to those eager players and welcome them into our community while we continue to balance, polish and develop the last bits of the game!”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“Sumer’s Early Access will end when we are confident in the online multiplayer feature. We estimate this to take about a year, but recognize that creating a quality online experience means addressing a lot of unknowns as they come up. Players will be kept up to date with release plans, so if online multiplayer takes longer than expected we’ll be transparent about it.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The Early Access version of Sumer is the full local game. At first Early Access players will be able to play Sumer in its entirety locally with friends or versus AI. Once online is closing in on being finished, we’ll make it available for testing, and release the game soon after! As we develop online play we’ll also be making improvements to various aspects of Sumer including the onboarding experience, game balance and visual polish. Expect to see improvements to the base game during Early Access and further expansions after we release.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Currently Sumer is a fully playable digital board game! The foundations of the game are all in place and we’ll continue to improve upon them while in Early Access. The current version includes:

• Three competitive game lengths and several tested variants.

• Compatibility with keyboard, mouse and a variety of controllers.

• AI with adjustable difficulty for all games with less than 4 humans.

• Fully accessible interactive tutorials.

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Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“Yes, we plan to raise the price of Sumer when online play is added and we leave Early Access.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“Early Access is our community’s chance to take a deep dive into Sumer and help us achieve our vision. We hope that you will engage with us in discussions of game balance, the onboarding experience and more. When online play becomes available we’ll allow you to opt in to the beta and test it out! As part of our Early Access community, you will be a critical force in helping us improve the online experience. Your gameplay will help us gather analytics of player behavior and game balance. We’ll continue showing Sumer at live playtest events and will host seasonal tournaments. We look forward to meeting you all at these events and on our streams and are excited to see how skilled you become at Sumer!”